Motor vehicles typically have a row of front seats and one or more rows of back seats situated parallel to and behind the row of front seats. Each row of seats generally has a storage area associated with it so that seat occupants can store belongings while traveling in the vehicle. For example, the front row of seats is often associated with a center console and a glove box. The back seats generally are associated with pockets in the seat-backs of the row immediately in front of the back seats, or with pockets formed in the vehicle interior trim adjacent to the ends of a back seat row.
In some cases, the storage volume available in the pockets is insufficient to store the belongings of rear seat occupants. In these cases, it would be desirable to provide a storage console in a back seat row. However, traditional storage console designs and attachment methods are only undesirably suitable for incorporation into a vehicle having rear seats that fold down to create a flat load floor in the position of the rear seats. With fold-flat seats, a traditional storage console mounted in a traditional manner creates a trade-off in choosing the height of the storage console. If a flat load floor is desired in the position of the storage console while the seats are folded, then the storage console will be too short to provide a comfortable arm rest while the seats are unfolded. Conversely, if the storage console is tall enough to provide a comfortable arm rest while the seats are unfolded, then storage console will undesirably protrude above the load floor when the seats are folded.